Fiji Mud....

Anyone have experience with this product? We used the small booster jar in our 2.5 HOB sump and its been wonderful with life! Bout to purchase the 12lb starter tub for the 30g sump we are setting up with our 90. Want to know if anyone has a better product to look into or if this is the "magic" stuff!

Edited by justchillinuno - October 08 2013 at 3:01pm

This is just my opinion, but I would not spend that kind of money on dirt. This idea of using Ocean mud was originally brought to us by Eco-Systems with their original Miracle Mud about 10 years ago. They claimed it was better than aragonite sand for growing Macroalgae in their Refugiums which used 24/7 lighting, an idea which has also fallen by the wayside. Here is a pic of Miracle Mud:



Notice how the majority of the material is ordinary silica and quartz sand.
What good could that do for our tanks, other than offer surface area for bacteria to inhabit? I believe it is better to use Aragonite sand to provide surface area for bacteria AND buffer the Alk, Ca, Mg and other minerals needed by our tanks.

These "muds" have been cleaned of anything that could easily die and decompose. Otherwise when the pail is opened, the smell would knock us out. Even worse, our tank would have to deal with a whole piss pot of pollution.

What does that leave in the $64 pail
Pretty much just clean dirt/sand, containing the same minerals we could get if we took a handful of dirt from our back yard, rinsed it and put it in our tank.

What can we do
We can add proper minerals to our tanks as we are already doing by our use of Aragonite sands, water changes, Alk, Ca, Mg, I, Fe and other supplements.

I'm not saying it is anything bad, I just think it's value is questionable or even zero. You said it was "wonderful with life". I would ask what kind of life and would also ask how that compares with other Refugiums you have set up?

While we are on the subject, what about the packaged LS sold in bags
I believe there are more good living organisms in two cups of LS from a good reef tank, than can come in one those bags.

These kinds of things are what companies come up with so they can make more money, not because it makes any real difference.

Again, these are my opinions, based on a "few" years of observation and experience.
Mahalo,
Mark


Edited by Mark Peterson - October 08 2013 at 4:27pm

I want to back up a little.

The bacteria, bugs and worms that grow in a Refugium come from the LR and LS we add to our tanks. To claim that Fiji Mud actually harbors those organisms is hard for me to believe.

I typically feed my systems the kinds of foods that help these organisms to flourish.
What I do believe and have seen from my own experience is that life grows much quicker and better when there some soft organic matter mixed in to the top level of substrate. In that regard, Fiji Mud may be better than Miracle Mud. If so, it may provide a more desirable substrate, but I believe that the spawn of these organisms comes from elsewhere in the tank. They then flourish in the good substrate.

Does that make sense?

Aloha,
Mark

anything that has this claim:

"Fiji Mud is collected from rare mud patches, discovered by science years ago, which are found in clear uncontaminated seawater. These patches typically occur at 40 - 50 feet of cool, clear water just off the coral reef."

Is highly suspect.